The Philae obelisk was one of two obelisk

Obelisk

An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...

s found at Philae

Philae

Philae is an island in the Nile River and the previous site of an Ancient Egyptian temple complex in southern Egypt...

 in Upper Egypt

Upper Egypt

Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...

 in 1815 and soon afterwards acquired by William John Bankes

William John Bankes

William John Bankes , the second, but first surviving son of Henry Bankes, was a notable explorer, Egyptologist and adventurer. He was a member of the Bankes family of Dorset and he had Sir Charles Barry recase Kingston Lacy in stone as it is today...

. He noted two inscriptions on it, one in Egyptian hieroglyphs the other in ancient Greek. By comparing the two texts, although they were not translations of one another, Bankes believed that he recognised the names Ptolemy and Cleopatra in hieroglyphic characters: his identification was afterwards confirmed by Thomas Young

Thomas Young

Thomas Young may refer to:*Thomas Young , Scottish Presbyterian and author*Thomas Young , member of the Sons of Liberty*Thomas Young , British polymath, scientist and Egyptologist...

 and Jean-François Champollion

Jean-François Champollion

Jean-François Champollion was a French classical scholar, philologist and orientalist, decipherer of the Egyptian hieroglyphs....

, and assisted Champollion in his eventual decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs. The inscriptions record a petition by the Egyptian priests

Egyptian religion

Egyptian religion may refer to:* Modern Religion in Egypt* Ancient Egyptian religion...

 at Philae and the favourable response by Ptolemy VIII Euergetes and queens Cleopatra II

Cleopatra II of Egypt

Cleopatra II was a queen of Ptolemaic Egypt.-Family:Cleopatra II was the daughter of Ptolemy V and likely Cleopatra I. She was the sister of Ptolemy VI and Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II Tryphon. She would eventually marry both of her brothers.Her first marriage was with her brother Ptolemy VI in ca....

 and III

Cleopatra III of Egypt

Cleopatra III was a queen of Egypt 142–101 BC.Cleopatra III was also known as Cleopatra Euergetis while associated with her husband Ptolemy VIII or her son Ptolemy X. She is attested as Cleopatra Philometor Soteira while associated with her eldest son Ptolemy IX...

; the documents are dated 118/117 BC

117 BC

Year 117 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Diadematus and Augur...

.

During the 1820s Bankes acquired the obelisk found at Philae and had it transported to his estate at Kingston Lacy

Kingston Lacy

Kingston Lacy is a country house and estate near Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England, now owned by the National Trust. From the 17th to the late 20th centuries it was the family seat of the Bankes family, who had previously resided nearby at Corfe Castle until its destruction in the English Civil War...

 in Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The house now belongs to the National Trust

National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty

The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...

and the obelisk can still be seen in the gardens.